A Piece Of Cake

Right now, I am struggling to finish my coatimundi stole. I wanted to finish it this month but still have to knit the 33 rows of the last chart plus the edging which takes some time. So, it might take a couple more days. Can't wait to have it done and blocked!
I am still doing the potty training. Got some good suggestions from my readers and am trying to put them to practice. However, it still seems a loong road...sigh.

Other than that, I decided to put my rudimentary, rusting baking skills to practice and baked this cake. Loads of calories to wreck my weight-watching plans but the kids really enjoyed it. DD prevented us from taking a second serving as she wanted it all for herself, LOL.

Potty Training Woes

As the weather turned warmer, I set about to potty train my 2.75 years-old dd. With my son, I had had little problem and he was all set to ditch the diaper in one week, mashaAllah.
Now, with girls, it is said to be easier but to my dismay, I am finding potty training this time to be an impossible task. Just when I thought we were making some progress, dd was afflicted with a stomach bug and back in diapers. Now, we are at square one and she seems to be in love with the diapers!
Is there an easy way out there? What have been your experiences and any advice?

Scrappy Crochet Update

After so many months, I dug out this WIP and worked on it yesterday. It still has a long way to go. Though it is barely noticeable, there is some progress from the last time. If you look closely, it is now 12x12 small squares rather than the previously 8x8 small square.
Still not decided what it's going to be. But I think it will look its best as an afghan. Any other suggestions?

Cable Top

With our household in the throes of gastroenteritis this week, I found little time and energy to work on lace. Instead I cast on another top for my dd. This was a very quick knit mostly because of the aran weight yarn (Rowan All Season Cotton) on 5 mm needles. I'm proud of the fact that I managed to knit it with the two balls of yarn that I had. I used up nearly all of the 196 yards. The pattern is my own and it is size four year so my daughter can have a couple of years wear out of it, inshaAllah.

All in all, it was great fun and now that we seem to be on the mend, I hope to resume work on my stole.

It's Working Again!

A quick update. My digital camera which had taken a fall yesterday has come to life again, alhumdollillah (praise be to Allah). So a great burden seems to have been lifted from my shoulders. And of course it also means I can pursue my blogging activities uninterrupted :)

A little Summer Top

I finished the summer top for my daughter yesterday and took some pictures of her in the top. Then I though of taking a few shots of the top lying flat. And at that moment, tragedy struck. While arranging the top for the shoot, the camera flew out of my other hand and dropped down onto the concrete floor!! Calming myself with the thought that it had not dropped from a great height, I picked it up and tried to turn it on...nope...it won't work. It made me feel worse than I even care to admit. There are times when I wish I didn't have butterfingers and DH lectured me briefly on being more careful and all, and I do try but it's so hard.
Anyway, I spent a sad night, praying for the camera to work. This morning, it did come to life and I was able to extract the photos from it but when trying to take a picture, it just shut down. Now this also happens when the batteries are exhausted so I'm hoping new batteries will make it work, inshaAllah!

Now coming to the top, I ran out of yarn, in the end and so could not make it longer. Also, had to use contrasting color for the edgings. But, all in all, it turned out quite well. The yarn (SWTC's Bamboo) looks so shiny and lovely and the color is so yummy! I might be writting a pattern soon.

And my dd is just recovering from a fever and is looking a bit off-color.

Yet Another WIP

I've nothing really interesting to share at this point but I was RAKed the other day and the delicious yarns were too tempting, LOL. So, I have started a summer top for dd. Still at the yoke and worrying if I have enough yarn (one ball of SWTC Bamboo = 250 yards). As I'm trying to work out a design of my own, there has been some ripping involved and the going is slow.

Oval Pineapple Doily

I had started with a filet runner pattern for my dressing table but it was turning out too large so I frogged it and instead crocheted this Oval Pineapple Doily. The pattern has a few minor ambiguities and no charts but it turned out to be a beautiful doily and just the right size for my dressing table.

With this doily done, I got all my paraphernalia out, which had been hiding in a cabinet for last four years. However, if the look on my daughter's face is something to go by, these things' life on the outside is likely to be shortlived. DH has alreadly labelled this a futile attempt on my part.

Chickenpox !

My son has come down with chickenpox. The good thing is that the constitutional symptoms were over when we made the diagnosis and he is pretty much OK now except for the rash. And that too is mild. That is the advantage of having it at a younger age. Hopefully, the itchy stage will be brief and mild too. For now, he is hugely enjoying his time off from school and it comes to my shoulders to keep him entertained. We expect his sister to develop the symptoms in about ten days time. InshaAllah it will pass smoothly with her also.

New Cast Ons

Besides coping with a stomach upset and working on the second half of the coatimundi stole, I also managed to cast on for a few other projects.
The first one is the famous clapotis. The yarn is Knit Picks Shimmer and I tried out the pattern with various needle sizes and with single and double strands. Finally, I have settled for single strand on 3.75 mm needles. This should give me a very light and big stole with 3 skeins. I want it to be the size of a traditional Pakistani stole, i.e about 1 x 2.5 m length. So, it is going to take some time to finish :).

The second new project is CeCe. I am just past the ribbing on this one but the lace pattern seems simple and interesting. I hope to pursue it with full force after the stole is finished, inshaAllah. The yarn I'm using is Robin Double Knit. One foreign yarn available in my LYS.

Also, today I also started a doily/runner in filet crochet for my dressing table. Before my kids were born, I had my dresser laid out with my cosmetics and beauty stuff. I hope to do the same now, hopefully the kids won't touch my stuff. A tall order, I know, LOL but it's time I made an attempt.
As dor the stole, I'm nearly done with Chart 1 fot the second half (each half has 6 charts plus edging). Shells is currently blocking her finished stole and her sylvi is all done and worn..Gorgeous as you can see for yourself here.